The Miami Dolphins are absolutely drowning on offense. Coach Fallen called a staff meeting this morning that brought together all of the coordinators and staff members that are in charge of conditioning for the team. The Miami Dolphins are on a two game losing streak after getting clobbered to the tune of 33-9 at the hands of the New England Patriots. The Miami Dolphins hosted the New England Patriots in a nasty rain filled game that was close until it wasn’t. The New England Patriots started the game off on offense and if this drive was any indication of how the game was going to go, that indication would be dead wrong. Mac Jones and the Patriots offense converted a first down on their opening drive, but the new set of downs didn’t come to fruition. On second and long, Mac Jones targeted two receivers running in the same direction, but Xavien Howard was able to step in front of the pass for his third interception in three games. The Miami Dolphins were able to drive into the red zone after the interception, but on 3rd and 10 on the Patriots 16 yard line, Tua Tagovailoa targeted Davante Parker on a in route, but his throw was too late, and a Patriot’s defender was able to step in front of the pass and intercept the ball. Coming out of halftime, the Miami Dolphins were down 9 points. They started the half with the ball and were driving until Will Fuller was clobbered running up the sideline. The ball slipped out of Fuller’s hands and stuck to the puddled filled ground. The Miami Dolphins are a team grasping at straws right now and time and time again, they consistently give up points when they need to be making smart decisions. This interception wasn’t the direct reason for the loss, but it’s one of the many reasons for their struggles on offense and the reason for their now three game losing streak.
Tua Tagovailoa is having a very rough start to the season. He has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and hasn’t been able to find the rhythm yet this season. He has overthrown, underthrown, and sailed his passes but more concerning is his inability to find the open receiver. He is getting the ball out of his hands very quickly, he is one of the least most sacked quarterbacks in the league, but is one of the league’s leaders in interceptions thrown. He really struggled against the Patriots. Tua completed a career low 44% of his passes. He completed 15 passes on 34 attempts for 277 yards. Tua threw just one touchdown and a staggering 5 interceptions. Coach Fallen was livid with his quarterback, especially when the young star was seen taking pictures and celebrating with the Patriots in front of the media after the game. There have been spiraling rumours about the Dolphins being open to trading their quarterback and this sequence of events could very well lead to it. The Miami Dolphins running game struggled again this week. The offensive line couldn’t hold their blocks and Salvon Ahmed looked like a fish out of water trying to squirm around defenders. Ahmed carried the ball 11 times for 43 yards. He’s usually a force in the pass game but he was held to just two catches for zero yards. It was an all around pitiful game by the Miami Dolphins, but the few bright spots in the game are what the Dolphins will have to focus and build upon moving forward.
Offensive Statline of the Game –
Jaylen Waddle – 5 receptions, 175 yards, and 1 touchdown.
Jaylen Waddle has been the lone bright spot for the Miami Dolphins. His rookie year was riddled with injury as he was forced to miss five games. Waddle has had nearly 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in every game this season.
The Miami Dolphins played their hearts out on the defensive side of the ball, but they allowed the Patriots to score six times in the red zone. They were able to hold the Patriots to four field goals, but it wasn’t enough to thwart the steady offense of the Patriots.
Defensive Statline of the Game –
Jevon Holland – 2 tackles and 2 forced fumbles.
One of the biggest takeaways from this game for the Miami Dolphins was their inability to take advantage of the mistakes that the Patriots did make. The Miami Dolphins were able to forced three fumbles, however, they were only able to recover one of those fumbles.
The Miami Dolphins found themselves in a very similar position last season around this time. In their first four games last season, they started out 1-3. In week 4, they are pitted against the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City is without Tyreek Hill. He ended up getting injured in their game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The loss of Tyreek Hill hasn’t stopped the potent offense of the chiefs, they have been able to consistently put up points against every opponent so far this season. The Chiefs are coming off a huge division victory against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Miami Dolphins want to get back to the basics against the Chiefs. We were able to catch up with Coach Fallen after the game against New England this week and get a comment about how his team plans on containing Patrick Mahomes next week. Frustrated with his quarterback, the coach shouted,”We HAVE to protect the ball and keep Patrick Mahomes off the field, that’s how you contain him.”
Contract Corner –
In addition to the weekly wrap up of the game, we will also be discussing how contract negotiations are going for the Dolphins that are due to be re-signed.
Sheldon Richardson – $7.39M for 1 year
Kareem Jackson – $5.83M for 1 year
The Dolphins are not expected to re-sign either of these two players. Richardson will be 32 years old and Jackson will be 34 years old next season and they are expected to regress heavily. It is expected that the Dolphins will continue to build up these positions with the players that have on their current roster.
